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My family ate dinner together at the dining room table every single night growing up, even when my sister and I were in high school. The table was always set before the food was put down, with a folded paper napkin, a fork and a knife. The napkins were paper because, well, that's what we used. In the house, at the patio table during barbeques, at the annual Italian Picnic at Manning Park, napkins were paper. I don't remember the first time I encountered a cloth napkin, but I'm sure I was confused as to why anyone would use that and then throw them away.
Cloth napkins are the norm in our house now, with several different kinds just to mix it up. I still linger in the supermarket and look at the multitude of paper napkins and their various designs, wondering which my mother would pick out to grace her table. While the only constant is in the universe is change, a good paper napkin can take me back 50 or so years, hanging on a cart in a grocery store that no longer exists, watcing her survey the choices and picking the one that was just right.
This week, a look at the origins of the napkin.
TTFN, Fred.
Quote of the week: "The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark." - Barbara Hall, Northern Exposure, Rosebud, 1993
Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time, and pumpkin pie is often eaten during the fall and early winter. In the United States and Canada, it is featured on Thanksgiving.
This week, a look at pumpkin pie and a 19th century culture war.
TTFN, Fred.
Quote of the week: "Talking
perceptions, people. Do we really see each other for what we really are, or do
we just see what we want to see, the image distorted by our own personal
lenses? I lost someone today and the funny thing is, I don't even know who she
was." - Jeff Melvoin, Northern
Exposure, Lovers and Madmen, 1994
How Pumpkin Pie Sparked a 19th-Century Culture War by fredwine on Scribd
